Days 60 to 69 of my 2023 AT Nobo Thru-Hike

As a foreword, I wrote all of these journal entries at the time they took place on trail, but I fell behind on keeping up with the blog. The date listed at the top of this page is the publishing date and does not correspond to my current location on trail. I’ll be upping the number of days listed as well to better catch up.

Day 60

Early views in Shenandoah National Park

Due to the constant wind blowing ash and smoke into the shelter and the noise of a crowded shelter, I woke up quite tired and with a bit of a sore throat. Despite that, we packed up camp fairly quickly and hustled over to the nearby picnic area to be reunited with Groot! We had seen him briefly in Daleville, but now we were finally reunited. Shortly after arriving at the picnic area, it began to sleet/snow on us for about 20 minutes! That, combined with the cold and strong winds, made the day a bit tough, weather-wise. From there, we made quick progress to the first of the Shenandoah waysides, as we were excited for hot food and snacks. Unfortunately, the actual kitchen area was closed, and the snack food prices in the camp store were quite steep. Disappointed, we continued until we ended up at a wonderful stealth site near a gorgeous overlook. It was just sheltered enough from the wind, and it meant we could avoid the crowded shelters. The only downside was that we could hear a dead tree noisily squeaking from our tent. No bear sightings so far, but we have seen a wonderful variety of birds and wildflowers.

Day 61

Somewhere in there we passed the 900 mile mark!

Despite the squeaking tree, I ended up sleeping like the dead. It turns out that my sore throat was a precursor to my being sick, as I am now totally zapped of energy, with what feels like a pretty nasty cold. Of course, it came just as I was getting over my IT band pain and poison ivy rash. To add insult to injury, my sunglasses also broke today. When I pulled them out, the side piece fell off, and it looks like the screw backed itself out and fell out at some point. Because I felt poorly, we did a shorter day of only 16ish miles. The shorter day included a lengthy stop at the Lewis Mountain campground, where I had some ice cream to help with the sore throat. Unfortunately, they did not have any cold meds for sale, and the food was quite expensive. We ended up calling it a day at the Bearfence Mountain shelter, and I went to bed early in an attempt to try and sleep off the illness.

Day 62

Unfortunately going to bed early didn’t seem to help much as I woke up feeling terrible. Due to changing weather, my fever, and not being proactive about it, Instigator and I woke up with a considerable amount of condensation inside the tent. We packed up and headed to the Big Meadows Wayside, which promised an open kitchen and a hot, fresh breakfast. When we got there, we were extremely disappointed to find a very limited, expensive breakfast menu of what was essentially heat-and-eat style food… I was already dragging considerably after our short 7-mile hike there, so the group outvoted me and informed me that we would be going no further so that I could rest. We then spent the rest of the day lounging at the Big Meadows lodge before turning in early at a stealth campsite nearby the Big Meadows campground. I feel like I’ve been a big negative in my entries recently, but the limited camping and blatant price gouging of Shenandoah has been annoying me. It’s in direct conflict with my previous national park experiences, which is why I think it annoys me so much. That, and the traffic we’ve encountered while crossing Skyline, is discourteous to hikers and doesn’t even move over to give space. It feels much too commercial. I’m hoping my experience improves and that I feel better before we are out of the park.

Day 63

Masochist and I recreating The Creation of Adam…

After a mostly sleepless night due to fever, sweats, ear pain, and lymph node pain, we broke camp in our stealth site near the Big Meadows campground, we followed along a nice easy ridge line for a couple of quick easy miles, with trails that we’re thankfully all to ourselves. We took an early break at the Skyland Resort, which following the rest of Shenandoah, had horrible restaurant hours (breakfast was served from 7:30-9:30, and lunch didn’t start till noon), so we settled for snacks out of our food bag. While we sat there resting, waiting for my ibuprofen to kick in to help with my cold, we saw numerous other people come up and look confused that the restaurant was closed. From there we continued along the ridge, which had multiple gorgeous viewpoints overlooking the valley and the nearby town of Luray. The trail was slammed with people after our stop, so progress was slowed quite a bit as we kept having to pass large tour groups and trains of weekend backpackers (it’s a Saturday). Despite my feeling poorly, we decided to push on miles so that we could leave the park tomorrow. This was also reinforced by the fact that the shelters were slammed with people, so we had to push further than planned to find a stealth site that fit Shenandoah’s strict backcountry camping rules. Thankfully, as long as I can stay medicated and feel well enough, this should easily put us within a day’s reach of Front Royal!

Day 64

We had a somewhat eventful night, in that we kept hearing something large enough to break branches, walking near our stealth site. I guess that it was deer, as we otherwise haven’t seen any signs or warnings about bear activity. After packing up camp, we headed to the Elkwallow Wayside where we had some cereal and milk we were able to procure from the camp store, as the wayside grill was, of course, not open. I then proceeded to listen to podcasts for most of the day as I was dragging heavily due to still being sick with whatever this was. We had numerous amazing views on our way to Gravel Springs hut. Of slight concern though, the sky to the west was getting noticeably darker. When we stopped at Gravel Springs hut for water and lunch, the small group informed us that we were now expecting scattered thunderstorms for the rest of the afternoon… Wanting to get as close to town as possible for an easy nero, we pushed on towards the Tom Floyd Wayside shelter, which was just outside of Shenandoah National Park. This seemed to be working out perfectly, until the sky became much darker, and the inevitable occurred. We ended up getting drenched the last 4ish miles to our target shelter, but thankfully the section of trail was pretty easy. We eventually arrived, absolutely soaked to the shelter, but we had finally beat Shenandoah! After the normal evening chores, we all settled into the shelter, and got ready for an early night!

Day 65

Thankfully, we were never bothered again by whatever was getting into the shrubs and branches around our tent. Because we didn’t have the best stealth site in the world, we were inspired to pack up quickly to get some extra morning miles in. I still felt quite poorly, and my ear pain had increased, making it harder to eat. Early on, we were rewarded with a few gorgeous overlooks, that were thankfully not as crowded as the ones yesterday. We noticed that it was quite cloudy and humid, which did not bode well for the cold front we were expecting later, but previously there had been no rain forecasted. It wasn’t until much later in the day, at a peak, that we were able to get reception and see that we were in for a good soaking. We tried to pick up the pace, but we ended up getting caught out in the storm, so for the last 5 miles we were essentially walking in the middle of a stream. When we finally pulled into the Tom Floyd shelter, we were soaked head to toe, but thankfully, it was finally cooling off a bit and the shelter had space. Excited to finally be out of Shenandoah, we called an early night in preparation for getting up early for a town day in Front Royal, VA tomorrow!

Day 66

Outside of Basecamp in Front Royal

We woke up still incredibly soggy from all of the rain and overnight humidity. Excited for town, we quickly hoofed the 3 miles or so it took to get to the road, and then quickly set about making a town plan. After a little bit of searching, we set our sites on an iHOP in Front Royal that was across the street from a much-needed Walmart. Instigator and I then tried to get a Lyft or Uber while Masochist asked people at the trailhead if anyone could give us a ride. After about 20 minutes, we threw in the towel and started trying to hitch. Unfortunately, it was a higher-speed road with few decent spots to pull over, so we slowly started sauntering our way towards town. After another 20 minutes or so an incredibly nice woman in a very clean, brand new Lexus pulled over and told us to hop in. We all felt guilty about how dirty we were, but she told us it wasn’t a problem. Funny enough, she also told us that the only reason she stopped was because we had Instigator with us, and that she hadn’t picked up a hitchhiker in 20 years! After our ride, we completely demolished piles of food at IHOP, before heading across the street. I was finally able to get my sunglasses repaired in Walmart (for free!), and then we Ubered to “basecamp” where we were able to do laundry and get showers. While there, we also ran into Witcher and a few others. Finally, our room was ready at Super 8, so I took some decongestants and passed out.

Day 67

High strangeness overseen in Front Royal

I slept horribly and woke up feeling even worse, so we decided to take a zero. At the arm twisting of my companions, I found a telehealth appointment, was diagnosed with a sinus infection, and was prescribed some much-needed antibiotics and decongestants. I had been sick on and off throughout all of Shenandoah National Park. The rest of the day was mostly spent in bed watching a Tobey Maguire Spider-Man marathon, broken up only by a trip to the post office to mail the mug home that Scratch had purchased me and then a trip across the street to Spelunkers, the local burger joint. Instigator and Masochist also very kindly went out and got me a tub of ice cream to demolish. I’m hopeful that the painful congestion in my ears and sinuses will clear out, and that my fever will break so that we can hit the trail again tomorrow.

Day 68

Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

I woke up still feeling crummy, but not like absolute death which is a win in my book! The weather was also absolutely perfect, so after taking Instigator to Dunks, we grabbed a ride from a trail angel, and were back on the trail. Only a few miles in, we came up to an incredible shelter, with a firepit and everything, and stopped for snacks. While there, we also found some trail magic in the form of a few semi-cool sodas! The path was pretty overgrown, so it wasn’t particularly scenic. Eventually, we stopped off at another shelter for lunch where we found several snakes hanging out in the corners of the rafters and where I found a hatchet lying around. Thinking back to my old job as an axe-throwing coach, I wasted no time throwing it into a nearby dead tree. Then, much to the amusement of Instigator, I taught Masochist how to throw it, and he sunk his first throw! From there, we continued with excellent weather and much else to report until we stopped for the night at Rod Hollow shelter. We’re so close to being out of Virginia!

Day 69

Blackburn Trail Center

We awoke to a little rabbit adorably running circles around our tent pad at Rod Hollow Shelter. At first, I was concerned that it was some sort of large rat trying to get to our packs, but I was delighted when I saw its little face. After breaking camp, we very quickly began the first of many climbs for the day as we were hiking the “roller coaster” section. The roller coaster is a section of 10ish sub 1000ft climbs, that immediately descend after you reach the top. Each one individually isn’t bad, but having them all grouped kicks your butt. To add insult to injury, there isn’t much of a view from the tops of any of them, and the terrain is a mix of rocks or sticky mud… Needless to say, we were quite happy when we finished the last one, and pretty beat. Instead of doing another 7mi to the next shelter, we decided to check out the Blackburn Trail Center, which was a little ways off-trail but promised tent pads, potable water, and privies. We were delighted to discover a house, a small hiker cabin, and a beautiful yard when we arrived. The caretaker, Amelia, greeted us warmly and explained that the center is provided by the Potomac Trail Club. After telling us a brief history of the center, she provided us with nice cold drinks and snacks! Because we had stopped a bit earlier for once, we were able to take our time with dinner, stretch, and enjoy the evening. I’m hopeful that as we continue onward with our hike, we’ll be able to have more relaxing evenings like this one, instead of just eating dinner and immediately going to bed.